Living with a chronic illness (especially an extremely rare one) can leave a person feeling isolated from the outside world; they may feel as though nobody they have any physical contact with in their daily lives can relate or understand the unique problems that plague them.
Enter social media. For people like myself, the rise of social media has been an enigmatic delight. People with illnesses can now have the amazing ability to constantly communicate with people who have their illnesses. I know that I am not relaying any new information as far as the connection between chronic illness support and social media is concerned. However, I can tell you a little bit about how it has helped me, seeing as growing up there was no one in my life that had this.
As my condition progressed into my teenager years, I started to feel especially alone with my thoughts in regards to my chronic illness and the feelings it caused. Nobody around me could truly relate; while people can be empathetic and supportive, there is nothing like speaking to another patient who experiences the exact same symptoms and feelings that you do. Until about my freshmen year of college, there was a large gap in my life as I had no contact with any other person with my chronic illness. Then came the acceleration of facebook and other social media tools of the like.
A few years ago, I became heavily involved with some KTS support groups, prior to starting my own blog (which I have since deleted). However, I cannot emphasize enough what a cathartical experience this has been for me. Honestly, there are times when I feel like confiding with my same illness peers has helped to save my life in regards to my emotional well-being.
I feel privileged to live in such a time where resources such as skype and facebook (among an array of many other social media tools) have become widely accessible to people of all origins.
Enter social media. For people like myself, the rise of social media has been an enigmatic delight. People with illnesses can now have the amazing ability to constantly communicate with people who have their illnesses. I know that I am not relaying any new information as far as the connection between chronic illness support and social media is concerned. However, I can tell you a little bit about how it has helped me, seeing as growing up there was no one in my life that had this.
As my condition progressed into my teenager years, I started to feel especially alone with my thoughts in regards to my chronic illness and the feelings it caused. Nobody around me could truly relate; while people can be empathetic and supportive, there is nothing like speaking to another patient who experiences the exact same symptoms and feelings that you do. Until about my freshmen year of college, there was a large gap in my life as I had no contact with any other person with my chronic illness. Then came the acceleration of facebook and other social media tools of the like.
A few years ago, I became heavily involved with some KTS support groups, prior to starting my own blog (which I have since deleted). However, I cannot emphasize enough what a cathartical experience this has been for me. Honestly, there are times when I feel like confiding with my same illness peers has helped to save my life in regards to my emotional well-being.
I feel privileged to live in such a time where resources such as skype and facebook (among an array of many other social media tools) have become widely accessible to people of all origins.
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